


How Hela got her groove back

by Wapwani



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Spoilers, Spoilers - Thor Ragnarok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 08:51:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12701508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wapwani/pseuds/Wapwani
Summary: No giant horned fire beastie is going to keep a good Goddess of Death down.





	How Hela got her groove back

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a piece of silliness that popped into my head and demanded to be written. I am so far out of my wheelhouse, I didn't even know that Hela was a canon Marvel character until after I saw the movie.

Surrounded by a web of fire, Hela sat on a rock, and brooded

Surtur had learned well the lesson Thor taught him, about the folly of imprisoning Asgardian gods in chains of mere iron and steel. When Hela had crawled back onto the shores of a ravaged Asgard, so injured and broken she was barely able to spit defiance, Surtur had dragged her into this cave and trapped her behind this mesh of living fire. 

So far, the flames that surrounded her prison had resisted all her efforts to break free. She healed slower now, and her skin was marked and charred with the evidence of her failures. A god could be patient though, and none more patient than the Goddess of Death herself. She had out-waited centuries of imprisonment once before. She could do it again.

* * *

 

Hela listened curiously to the skitter of falling rocks and the muffled swearing she could hear coming from the back of her cave. Surtur’s beasts were not generally shy about announcing their presence; this apparent attempt at ambush was new, and therefore interesting, something to brighten her day.

When her visitor crept into sight however, Hela sighed.

“I see you,” she said drily. “Scurrying there in the shadows, like a mouse.”

The intruder froze, but then straightened and stepped into the light. “I won’t hurt you,” she said.

Hela sighed again. The woman was young - although to a god, all mortals were young - and with youth always came folly. She was dressed like a street rat - scuffed leathers and dirty boots, her gauntlets blinked faintly with muted lights, and her dark eyes were grim and determined. She was armed only lightly, with a metal tipped staff, and a blaster that she wore on her hip.

“What do you want, Mouse?”

“I’m looking for my blade.”

“Left your little dagger behind, did you? When you all fled in terror?”

“No.” A strong chin titled defiantly. “I’m here to _claim_ my blade. Like my sister did before me.”

Hela waved a lazy dismissal. “This sounds like a quest fit for a hero. Go on then.”

“Umm.”

“Didn’t bring a map, did you?”

“It all looks so different now. Everything is … burning.”

Hela sighed. “Where did you leave this blade?”

“I didn’t…it’s…I’m here to claim a dragon-fang.”

Hela tilted her head. “You’re a Valkyrie?”

“No! My sister. She was.”

“Ah.”

“But she’s dead now. They all are.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“She taught me everything I need to know.”

“And you’re going to bring honour to her name, and so forth, and so on.” 

“My sister died defending Asgard. I won’t let her sacrifice be in vain!”

“Asgard has fallen,” Hela said, her voice heavy. “All our sacrifices have been in vain.”

“Asgard still lives. So long as one Asgardian is still alive, Asgard has not fallen.”

Hela sighed dramatically and lowered herself gracefully to sit on a rock, somehow managing to look regal and bored in her dark prison. “You’ve been listening to Odin.”

“The Valkyries will ride again. I have sworn this.”

Hela frowned. She gestured at the determined woman, a flinging motion of her hand that sent something hurtling towards her; the woman did not flinch away. Instead she reached out and caught the object. It was a strip of dark material, flexible enough to roll up, but strong enough that it would not tear. Faint green lights glowed on its face.

“What is this?”

“It will show you the way to the Hall of Heroes, where Odin buried his favourite warriors. If the Hall has survived, you may find a dragon-fang blade there.” She shrugged. “Even if the Hall has _not_ survived. Dragon-fangs are difficult to destroy.”

The woman touched the map to her forehead. “Thank you.”

Hela sneered. “Do not thank me yet, Mouse. Surtur’s beasts swarm everywhere. The map will not show you that.”

“I can take care of myself. And my name is-“

“Don’t bother, Mouse. The dead need no names.”

Hela watched as the woman pulled a tool from her belt and sliced through the rock, creating a gap in the web of fire that healed itself as soon as she had passed through.

 

 

Days went by. Or perhaps hours. All time seemed frozen, a heartbeat passing as swiftly as a year. At any rate, some time went by before Hela heard her Mouse scurry back into her prison.

She turned from the view she had made for herself - a window-like portal she opened so she could look over the roiling sea of fire Asgard had become - to stare haughtily at her visitor. Hela’s proud look however soon morphed into a frown. Mouse was limping, using her staff for support. Her leathers were shredded and blood caked the side of her face. There was a wound high on her left side, jagged edged and seeping.

“I see you found Surtur’s beasts,” Hela said drily.

Mouse curled her hand over the hilt of the sword she wore where her blaster had once rested. “They didn’t bother me so much after I found my blade.” Her voice was hoarse, but her smile proud. She coughed, shuddered, and leaned against the wall.

“I’d offer you some mead,” Hela said. “But we’re fresh out.”

Mouse waved a dismissing hand. “I just need a moment.” She slid slowly to the floor, coming to ground with a thud, her legs bent under her.

“Seems to me you need a little more than that,” Hela ground out. She crossed over to Mouse and crouched beside her. Hela extended her hand, curled fingers glowing with a green energy. “Here,” she said softly. The green glow passed from her fingers and into Mouse’s body. The woman gasped, her eyes fluttered shut, and she went still.

Hela stood and crossed back to her magic window, expressionless as she watched the continued ravaging of her home.

In time - minutes, days, hours, weeks, who could tell - Mouse stirred. She coughed raggedly as she got to her feet. “What did you do?”

Hela shrugged. “Death and I are old friends. I’ve fed him well over the years. He spares me a few crumbs, here and there.”

Mouse joined Hela in looking out over the destruction.

“I didn’t think you’d help.”

Hela sighed. “Not so long ago, I wouldn’t have. I’d have ushered you happily on your way. But now…”She extended her arm in a sweeping gesture. “I sometimes wonder if this is truly what I wanted. To rule over death. I try to get Surtur to talk to me about it. But he’s not big on discussing feelings.”

“You’re powerful.”

“I am.”

“But not powerful enough to defeat Surtur.”

Hela growled. “I draw my power from Asgard. And Asgard is… _this._ My power is a bit…cinders and ash.”

“Asgard is more than this land.”

Hela glared at her. “Are you saying I’m just not trying hard enough?”

Mouse laughed. “No. That’s not-.” She shook her head. “You’re still powerful.” She glanced towards the back of the cave. “I should go.”

“Of course. Hero things to do. Your sister’s name to immortalise.”

“I am the last of the Valkyries. I have a lot to do.”

“You’re not, you know. The last. There is another. She was just as…persistent…as you.”

Mouse’s eyes lit up with hope. “Can you tell me where to find her?”

“With my idiot brother, no doubt. The God of Thunder.” 

Mouse nodded. “The Arc. The last refuge. I will find them.” She paused, then offered hesitantly. “You can come with me, if you like. If my ship’s still where I left it, I’ve got room enough.”

“You want _me_ to go with _you?”_ Hela spat. “Don’t you know who I am?”

“I do. You’re Hela. Bane of the Valkyrie.”

Hela’s face paled. “You don’t have to believe me. But that is one title I am not proud of.”

“The Goddess of Death, then.”

“And you still want to save me?”

“A Valkyrie’s first task is to carry warriors to their rest and reward in Odin’s halls. It was my sister’s proudest duty. And she taught me, on the battlefield, all the heroic dead look the same.”

“I’m no hero,” Hela scoffed.

“You were Asgard’s greatest hero once. Though many seem to have forgotten it. You may not have been good. Or kind. But you won us great victories. You served your King well.”

“Until I didn’t.”

_“That_ is between you and your King.”

“You do realise, if you bring me out of Asgard, all I will want is to find my brothers and kill them?”

Mouse shrugged. “I’m not going to get caught up in your family squabbles. All I’m doing is offering you a ride. So tell me, Goddess of Death - will you let me carry you to your rest and reward?”

 

It was a battle. Surtur wasn’t keen to lose his favourite prisoner, and his beasts harried them the entire way to where Mouse had hidden her ship. In a final stand off, Hela managed to hold Surtur at bay long enough for Mouse to start up the engines and get the ship air borne.

By the time they were falling off the edge of Asgard’s furthest border and into the cold dark of space, Hela’s eyes were snapping with a bright joy, a light returning to her face that had been long-dimmed.

Mouse was at the controls, trying to put as much distance as possible between the ship and Asgard, when she noticed something on the sensors. Something large.

“What the hels?”

“Halt!” Hela cried. “Turn this ship around!”

“Hela, we are trying to get away here, not go back!”

“Turn around now!”

“What _is_ that thing?” Mouse muttered as she banked the ship so they could draw closer to the shape she had seen. “It looks like a bloody great wolf.”

“It _is_ a bloody great Wolf,” Hela said fondly. “We’re bringing him on board.”

“Hela. That thing - that _wolf_ \- has been out there in the vacuum of space for who knows how long. It’s too late to save him.”

“The Eternal Flame gives him life,” Hela said smugly. “A little cold and dark will not extinguish so much as a spark of that fire. He lives. And we’re bringing him on board.”

Mouse sighed. “He’s a bloody big wolf. I hope _you_ have something to feed him.”

Hela smiled widely. “I’m the Goddess of Death. I’m sure I can find _something_ for us to hunt.”

**Author's Note:**

> There is no way I was leaving Fenris dead!


End file.
